Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who
mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one
as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your
tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is
yours do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. For
if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love
those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what
credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from whom you expect
repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get
back the same amount. But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and
lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be
children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the
wicked. Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will
not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be
given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in
return be measured out to you.”
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Reflection:
How do you love?
All of us will agree that we can easily love those who give us love in
return. But are we willing to love those who’ve hurt us or those who continue
on hurting us? Mother Teresa once said: “If you love until it hurts, there can
be no more hurt, only more love.” A wife or a husband who truly love would continue to love his/her spouse notwithstanding the betrayal/s.
Many marriages fail because we put limits on how we give love. For
example, if a wife discovers that her husband is playing around with fire. The
reaction of the wife is perhaps to take revenge and play with fire also and not
to anymore love her philandering husband. But what will happen if our attitude
is like that? There would be many broken marriages, there would be many
suffering children simply because we put limits on how we give our love.
Jesus in our gospel is advising us to change this mindset of reactive
love. And to bring our understanding of love to a much higher level. Perhaps,
to the level of God’s love for us. But are we capable of raising to a
higher level our love and on how we give love?
If we truly love Jesus we would be able to forgive and once again love a
spouse who betrayed us. We would be able to love our siblings/relatives who’ve
hurt us and who don’t want to listen to our well-meaning advice/s. We would be
able to love a friend who betrayed our trust.
Jesus tells us in the gospel: For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you
do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners
do the same (Luke 6:32-33). - Marino J. Dasmarinas
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